1976 Topps #648 Al Cowens
About Al Cowens
Cowens hit .265 with three home runs and 59 RBI for the 1976 Royals. He played 152 games, nearly all in the outfield, and stole 23 bases. In the ALCS he went 4-for-21 as the Yankees beat Kansas City three games to two. Topps #648 shows him with the Royals and follows his 1975 season of .277, four homers and 12 steals in 120 games.
Al Cowens was a right fielder who played 13 major league seasons, 1974 through 1986, for the Kansas City Royals, California Angels, Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners. A Los Angeles native, he came up through the Royals system after they drafted him in 1969, and he played in Kansas City through 1979. His best year was 1977, when he hit .312 with 23 home runs and 112 RBI, won a Gold Glove, and finished second to Rod Carew in the American League MVP vote. He played in the ALCS in 1976, 1977 and 1978, each time against the Yankees, and lost all three. The Royals traded him to the Angels with Todd Cruz in December 1979 for Willie Aikens and Rance Mulliniks, and the Angels sent him to Detroit in May 1980 for Jason Thompson. He went to Seattle in 1982 and was released there in June 1986. He finished with 1,584 games, a .270 average, 108 home runs and 717 RBI. He died of a heart attack in 2002 at age 50, by then a scout for the Royals.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 103 | 4 | 15 | 56 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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- #194 1975 AL Home Run Leaders
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1976 Topps #648 card?
It is card #648 of the 660-card 1976 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Cowens of the Kansas City Royals.
How many cards are in the 1976 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, numbered 1 through 660 with none skipped and printed in equal quantities as a single series. No card carries a catalogued print variation, so the base set and the master set are the same 660 cards.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.